Pokemon Go: Have you caught the fever? (The 3:59, Ep. 75)

July 11, 2016

Transcript

[BLANK_AUDIO]
[LAUGH] I think we're on.
All right welcome Facebook because it's a very special episode of 3:59, our 75th.
We decided to shake things up we're gonna do it in the studio.
With me Ben Fox Ruben,
Woo.
Joan Sullivan.
We be talking about, whatever everyone is talking about today, Pokemon,
Pokemon.
But we will also [LAUGH] we will also be talking about Amazon prime so stay tuned if you want.
Yes.
[CROSSTALK] hard news after.
Yeah, yeah.
Pokemon go and
5th camp and Pokemon go.
Yeah, right.
Yes, so have you guys gonna play it?
Well, Ben.
I played for three minutes over the weekend and didn't find it at all that interesting, because it was night time, and I wasn't about to leave my house to go look for Pokemon at 9PM in the suburbs.
Why not?
That's the best time to hunt for Pokemon.
Would've been weird and creepy, but I'm sure other people around the country have been doing it.
Yeah, I'm willing to bet you would've run into people.
Yes
Other people-
Like in the bushes, people being like
your face is illuminated by their scream in the darkness.
[LAUGHING]
Get away from my [UNKNOWN] [LAUGHING] So yeah, So, I tried it and then, it wasn't that interesting in my house, so I delete it, but then I knew we're gonna talk about it here, so I re-downloaded it, and I have since caught another Pokemon
There you go
In the office.
In the office, really?
Where in the office?
I don't know around the back.
[UNKNOWN] I got a [UNKNOWN].
Yeah.
So now i have four and Roger has three.
Yeah so we can bully for Ben.
And I had a missed opportunity cuz I was biking around the city all weekend long.
I know.
I was covering a lot of ground, and I could've really hit the jackpot.
I mean, what it comes down to, it's a giant scavenger hunt, and like the more ground you cover, the better off you are.
Both of us, I mean, I was driving for the most part, I was in a...
Mall actually I probably would have caught some [UNKNOWN] at the mall but.
Yeah absolutely you gotta catch them all so.
[LAUGH] You might as well try [UNKNOWN] at the mall.
Clearly but yeah it's been kind of a crazy phenomenon right?
It's strange I mean we should probably save some of this for the podcast.
You have right.
We're gonna talk about another crazy phenomena let's talk about the 359 [LAUGH].
Wow that was pretty terrible.
That probably just got us canceled.
So I'm really sorry about that.
Yes.
I just got the email the official mail we're done.
[LAUGH]
Let's wrap it up.
Alright, why don't we get started with the podcast.
Facebook, if you have any questions about Pokemon or Prime Day, Ben is our [UNKNOWN].
Resident Prime Day Expert, here.
Please, drop questions, products, whatever.
We'll try to answer your questions.
At the end of the podcast, so.
Alright.
Should we get started?
Brian, do you want to count us down or?
And Audio is rolling, you are live in 3, 2...
Welcome to a special episode of 3:59!
It's our 75th edition, and we're doing things a little differently we're in the main studio to shoot this for both Facebook Live and our site, I'm Robert Chang.
I'm Ben Fox Rubin.
And I'm Joanie Salzman.
So the subject is unavoidable.
Talk about Pokemon Go.
Went live last week and people are going crazy for it.
This is amazing.
It's not even that good of a video game.
Let's get that out there.
It's a great concept!
Yeah, I just made the point, it's just showing off.
It's the best worst game I've ever had.
Like the server issues abound The green crash it constantly.
Bugee on top of that.
Super buggy.
But people cannot get enough of this game and it's, why, why?
Another thing that's pretty interesting.
So Nintendo which is the company that kind of created the concept in the first place
Yes.
Their stock has jumped 25%.
Over Pokemon Go.
Or maybe the fact that everybody now expects them to come out with a lot more mobile games.
Yeah.
Because this one was such a smooth success.
No I think that's an interesting point because Nintendo's been so resistant to being in the smartphone world for a long time.
For whatever reason.
Yeah and this game comes out and it's buzzier than anything that they've done in the console world.
Yeah there was some data that showed that in the US
5% of the population that has an Android phone has downloaded it.
And, all of that 5%, 3% are using it everyday, which means that people are using it as much as Twitter.
That's insane.
I don't know if that's if more about Twitter, [CROSSTALK]
That's nothing about twitter but it's [UNKNOWN] a lot of game, [CROSSTALK] day.
Yeah.
I mean, that's the thing, like, what's the longevity of a game like this?
Yeah, yeah.
People get tired of it?
I don't know.
I've caught three.
I'm still eager to catch more.
[LAUGH] Still very early.
Still very early for me, so-
Yeah.
I'll keep trying it out.
People seem so excited about it that I'm gonna keep giving it a go, and I think people are especially excited to see if They're going to have a Super Mario mobile game or a Legend of Zelda game.
Please, yes, a Legend of Zelda game!
How this opens up a lot more potential up for Nintendo and now Nintendo is suddenly much more relevant as they turn everybody's smartphone into a Gameboy.
Is this the first intersection of an augmented reality game with
Popular IP'd like Pokemon.
I think so yeah because I mean this is based on an early game called Ingress.
In fact it's where all the data, the location data comes from.
You know, not a lot of people have heard that game but they basically poured that data into Pokemon and all of a sudden it's
they've got a winner.
It's a phenomenon.
It's a phenom.
So, Ben?
Prime Day.
Yeah, so next up is Prime Day, Amazon's favorite made up holiday.
It's coming on Tuesday with the company pitching it as an even bigger sales event than the first Prime Day ever, which was last year.
I talked to the head of Prime who said Amazon made some tweaks to the sales event, including making a better landing page so it's easier to find the sales
And also, really amping up the amount of inventory.
Because a lot of folks complained last year that all the best deals.
Yeah.
Were gone in like seconds.
So, hopefully, they're going to have a bigger hit on their hands.
My expectation is people are still going to complain on social media regardless.
But, you know, if Amazon sells a ton of stuff they'll be [CROSSTALK]
So my question about The View?
What is your ideal Prime Day?
Product or discounted, you know, thing.
I don't know, do you want to go first Joan?
I was racking my mind before I couldn't think of much.
If I could get a really great discount, without having to worry about shipping, for a bicycle for my husband.
That I know is from a brand that he would appreciate Then that would be amazing, that would be my ideal one.
Pretty worth a while.
I want like a really really nice fridge for like five bucks-
[LAUGH]
Or like $50, like something that is just obnoxious.
Shipped to you in two days.
Right.
Shipped to me, no, like overnight from now.
So that would be nice.
You should [INAUDIBLE] actually.
Let's hope hey have something like that.
Gosh but before delivering
[CROSSTALK] So yeah.
Probably not gonna happen, but-
You guys have way more spending.
I mean, I just wanted diapers.
If I can get like
Really cheap diapers.
If she's in diapers, I'll load up right now.
For your kid by the way.
To be clear exactly, not for me.
I don't need Depends.
For my baby.
But I'm sure that will be.
Or there maybe a Depends deal, cuz they're gonna have all kinds of deals.
Well considering all the other criticism of Prime Day last year was not that, not just the inventory problems but also like
Rubbermaid was a big, gigantic deal.
People were like, who the hell cares?
Yeah, and they sold out of that.
Yeah, people did care about the Rubbermaid product.
They super duper leaned into that.
I think that.
So I've been talking to Amazon a lot about this and they were like, look, it's not a gifting holiday.
This is the type of thing where we're just trying to provide a bunch of different sales across categories to try to get people to buy all sorts of stuff.
And they're like, some people are gonna think it's really wacky if we're gonna have a giant tub of lube or something.
[LAUGH]
We're just gonna do it again.
We're gonna do it again and we're gonna own it this time.
And so, maybe it'll play off better this year, who knows?
All right, we'll see.
Wanna know more about these stories, check us out on CNET.
I'm Roger Chang.
I'm Ben [UNKNOWN].
I'm Joni [UNKNOWN].
Thanks for listening.
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The podcast is still on Facebook live.
Yeah.
You can't think of something better than diapers.
I don't know.
There's not anything you'd really like to buy cheap?
He's got diapers on the mind.
I really do.
Yeah.
Like I like literally had a blowup ten minutes ago.
We go through twice as many as you do.
Yeah, so.
Yeah that's the thing.
So far with having a kid.
I don't really need anything.
Yeah.
You don't have time to do anything that you would buy.
Use anything that you would buy.
I could go for like a more comfortable couch cause that's what I pass out on all the time.
When I'm taking care of way too many kids.
So that would be good.
But that's not the sort of thing you'd buy on Amazon.
[UNKNOWN]
I don't think so.
I mean they probably sell couches, I'm sure.
So, Bryan, are there any questions from Facebook about Pokemon or Prime Day?
I mean, people are upset that Pokemon is not available world wide yet.
Yup.
I mean, it's restricted like
So [UNKNOWN], is it only in english language, no, it's not even that.
It's just U.S, Australia, and New Zealand?
Is that right?
I think so.
I think so.
And I believe that actually went live
[UNKNOWN] in japan.
Right.
Right.
Like an [UNKNOWN] version.
And it's, I think they're gonna have issues with expanding coz they're already having problem here in the [UNKNOWN], in the market that it's already out.
It's not the best experience.
It, like, chokes out, the app crashes, you're
I was-
Some people wanted it anyway.
I know, I was like staring at my phone and sort of like tapping at it and nothing is happening, it's like, come on I'm right at this, what are the pokey spots?
Pokey spot?
The pokey spot?
It's called the pokey stop.
Stop, sorry.
[LAUGH]
I was like ranching through like swipey way, I'm like all right give me my favorite pokey ball, nothing.
Nothing?
Yeah, cuz that scrolls down.
It will probably get to a lot more places pretty quickly even with those problems just for the simple fact that they have a hit on their hands, they want more people to get it, really, really fast, so.
You've been hearing all of these weird kind of side stories about the people with the experiences.
Yeah.
People getting sent over to
Strip clubs and sex shops, the one girl who found the body.
Yeah yeah, there was another one where there were like armed robberies, where people hang out around poke-stops I guess, in like the middle of parking lots and then will rob you, because they know that you're going there.
And you're like holding your phone and you're distracted, and it's like the worst possible person to, to
The bra, basically.
Look, yeah, this is the first super popular augmented reality in-the-world game.
So there's gonna be a lot of those, I don't know, learning.
We'll probably come out with a story about the etiquette of Pokemon Go at a wedding or something like that at some point.
So people still need to learn that stuff.
Well, yeah, and someone just found a Pokemon
During his wife's labor.
Yeah, I saw that too.
Man.
[CROSSTALK]
Well, I mean labor does last for like 20 hours.
True.
So there's a lot of boring time for the non in labor person.
I don't think I would've-
That's true.
[LAUGH]
I was, what was I doing?
That's very generous of you.
I was thinking like world's worst or world's best.
I guess in my mind it was like she was pushing and he was like, look, Pikachu.
[LAUGH]
Swipe, go swipe.
You're like, dude that's your kid.
That's not a Pokemon.
[LAUGH]
Put the phone down.
All right.
Brian, any other questions?
Mo wants to know what team to join when he reaches level five in Pokemon GO.
[CROSSTALK] So in case somebody-
I'm a level two.
I'm also level two, we both just started so we don't know anything about what teams to join when you hit level five.
I think it's team red or team blue, I think those are the team's colors.
Mo, ignore these amateurs, join team Valor.
Team Valor.
Team Valor, all right.
I'll join whatever team Brian is on.
Yeah.
Actually that's gonna be my goal.
So Brian our producer has 50.
50, 50 Pokemon.
50 Pokemon right now.
So if you have any questions for us, Brian.
A lot of repeaters.
Not 50 originals.
I'm sorry?
So you can catch the same one over and over again and I'm doing that for experience point.
So I'm 50 there but I only have 20 originals.
Okay.
Wow, you have us beat.
Brian you should just be answering these questions yourself.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're all fired.
[LAUGH]
Alright anything else?
Nah I think we're pretty covered for today.
Everyone's too distracted playing Pokemon GO.
Yeah they're probably out, that's the one good thing about this game.
It gets people outside.
As long as they're not driving or biking.
Right.
Drunkenly trying to catch Pokemon.
I'm still playing Slither IO.
Nobody's talking about Slither IO anymore but I wasted a lot of time over the weekend with that so.
That's like a snake game where you fight against other snakes and you try to eat them.
Sometimes I can't tell when Ben's making up something up and lying to us.
That is actually legit.
[LAUGH]
[UNKNOWN] you have to be real actually.
[LAUGH]
Have fun with your snakes, dude.
All right.
[LAUGH]
No one can think about that, sorry.
God dammit.
[LAUGH]
All right, if you like anything you saw or heard here check us out at cnet.com.
Also we're available on iTunes, GooglePlay Music, [UNKNOWN], SoundCloud, TuneIn.
You did it.
That's it.
We're good.
And Cnet if you didn't say that.
I said our site!
Okay fair enough.
That's the first thing that I always say.
We'll, you know what we'll iron out all the details after.
For the next.
For the next one.
For the next 75 episodes.
And stay tuned for our 100th episode which we promise will be even bigger and crazier.
Yeah.
It's only in a few weeks so.
Cool.
All right.
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